As it says in the title , i'm looking at buying a Chevrolet day van and obviously they are left hand drive ,just wondering how easy it is to live with a left hand drive in the UK.
Any pros and cons greatly appreciated thanks Iain
Chat Forum
[closed]
Does anyone drive a LHD car in the uk
-
Posted 1 year ago #
-
tricky getting tickets from car park machines - best reverse in.......
Posted 1 year ago # -
i dont own one but i'v driven various lhd vans and trucks, and you do get used to it but sometimes its just a pain in the a**e
good for going to the alps with your bikes thoughPosted 1 year ago # -
and you can buy drugs without getting out of your car
Posted 1 year ago # -
and you can buy drugs without getting out of your car
see, there are benifits
Posted 1 year ago # -
I own a LHD 3 series BMW that i brought back from Germany 3 years ago. I've owned it for 10 years. Driving it over here is a real pain on B roads as you can't see to overtake and it costs more to insure as well (twice as much as my 2 year old 1.8 Zetec Focus. I only use it at weekends to take the mountain bike out on, but i couldn't bear to part with it, or scrap it!!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Had a RHD car in Germany:
great when you stopped at the side of the road and could get out on the curb and driving on the dual 9and 3 lane roads) as you see 'down-the-middle'
crap for car parks and especially overtaking on single-carriageway roads.
Posted 1 year ago # -
A mate had a day van in Texas, fuel economy was horrendous, the velour interior was offensive but we had some crazy trips in that thing.
Posted 1 year ago # -
My mate had a LHD tranny and said you had to watch the way you positioned it at roundabouts so you could see the traffic coming. (Possibly the same problem with a dayvan)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Got a LHD Corrado, never had any problems with it in the UK tbh, and it's not costing anymore to insure.
I forgot to mention it was left hand drive until i'd gone through buying insurance the first time and was told it makes no difference..
Learnt to look down the left hand side of cars to overtake and if anything it forces me to be more careful, don't really see it as a big problem, you're not going to be doing much of that in a day van though are you..
Car parks are easy:
Posted 1 year ago # -
If its a van propper (ie no rear side windows) then as above there are lots of situations where you are going to be dealing with really nasty blind spots. Joining motorways for instance you'll have a blind spot directly alongside you on your right big enough to hide a 40 ton truck in.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You can practise with your rhd car.
Just drive on the wrong side of the road for a couple of days.
Just watch out for those pesky cyclists.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm the other way round... I drive a RHD car in France! I also have a LHD van and, for extra confusion, drive back to the UK fairly regularly.
The car in France is no hassle at all. The van in the UK is fine too, the only issue is with overtaking, which is virtually impossible, but I'm not that kind of driver anyway.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Over taking was always the problem for me as you could not see unless you where a long way back. But then it was a 2 cylinder fiat 126 that could only just get over 100kph if you where very lucky.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I once heard that the usual trick for Integrale owners was to fit an extra interior mirror on the right hand side of the car, angled so that you can see to the right of the car in front of you.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I drove a RHD Alfa on the continent for a number of years and now have a LHD Landy which I drive in the UK for a couple of months a year...
Overtaking - you won't, at least not safely.
Car parks, automated barriers, toll booths - you'll need very long arms or you'll have to get out and walk around each time.
Safety - depends - the Alfa was fine as it had windows in the sides, the Defender is a van and you can only take a left at a T-junction if you hit it at 90 degrees as you can't see anything over your right shoulder. Similarly turning right at roundabouts can be *very* tricky.
In all, If I was living in the UK I would select a RHD.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I occasionally drive a LHD car in the UK. It's not the driving position that's the problem but the plates. It was particularly bad when the France banned sales of something British and I spent a couple of weeks being cut up, honked at and being gesticulated at in ways I assume were meant to offend.
Posted 1 year ago # -
blimey. having previously owned an American van, I wouldn't do it again. Crap build quality, inefficient, ugly.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've done the reverse, owned a RHD in France. No big deal, and fun to see peoples faces when my small daughter was in the LH seat.
Big problem - selling the f*cker. I took a big loss to get rid of it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Only downsides I've found with LHD in UK is the B-Road overtaking. Even though the car's got plenty of welly, sometimes it's easier to let one car past, let him overtake, then follow.
Dartford tunnel toll booths are fun.
Large roundabouts can be interesting when you need to look through passenger's head
Good points are that with a non-UK plate the parking wardens in Morrisons in Scotland can't clamp you nor give a ticket... and it's even better when you see them confused and smile back
Posted 1 year ago # -
have a chevy sportsvan lhd had no problems at all with car parks you got electric windows just reach across as for fuel consumption have 350 engine on gas app 20 mpg or convert to lpg and half the cost with no loss in performance
Posted 1 year ago #
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.
